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Mittwoch, 30. Juli 2014

Today I'm very
pleased to welcome my real-life sewing and blogging friend and
neighbor Miriam from mirid. As amazing it is to get to know other
sewing fanatics online, it still is even better to meet on a daily
basis, to go fabric shopping together and to spend nights sewing and
chatting together. If you want to know more about how Miriam and I
met, please read this post. Here, I only want to say how extremly
happy I count myself to call such a fun, open-hearted and creative
woman my friend. Miriam is super talented. She has written severalsewing (and crafting with paper) books, constantly thinks about new
sewing projects and has fabric and trim in every colour and material. She even was in the finals for "Germany's most creative blogger". She
loves to sew bags – even though she already has more than enough -
and the details that she includes in each of her makes are fantastic.
Here are my favorites.

Montag, 28. Juli 2014

Today I have a non-romper-romper for you. Marte from Compagnie.M invited me to take
part in her super big blog action, for which about 70 bloggers sew
their version of the Mara blouse pattern. Go over there, to check out
my post about the blouse and my pseudo-romper, but not before you
have read my musings about the shorts that I sewed to go with the
blouse!

Mittwoch, 23. Juli 2014

The moment that I
discovered Saskia's blog some time last year, I was hooked. Her blog
is simply fantastic. Whenever
I see that she has written a new post, I go there right away!
Her t-shirts, sweatshirts, shorts etc. are always unique. Stamping,
sun-printing, color-blocking, freezer paper stenciling, bleaching,dip dyeing – just name a fun technique: Saskia
will have done it. And not just done it, she will have made something
amazing with it! Since I and she hosted Secret Squirrel we have been
in loose contact, connected through our love for everything Astrid
Lindgren and Scandinavia. She is such a warm and friendly person with
an amazing style. Here are my favorites.

First things first: Please introduce yourself (who are you, tell us a little bit about your family, which country and maybe city do you live in, are you originally from this country, do you work or are you a stay at home mom, etc.)!
I’m Saskia from the Netherlands. I live together with my partner and our three children (6, 4 and 1) in a city in the middle of the country. I work four days a week as a scientist (inventor) at the research lab of a big tech company. So during the day, I’m surrounded by technology-loving nerds (mostly men) and at night I’m part of the low-tech (and entirely female) sewing blogosphere. Quite a contrast! The main ingredient of both activities, however, is the same: creativity. When I’m not working or sewing, I love to spend time outdoors with my family; walking, cycling, playing and enjoying nature.

Mittwoch, 16. Juli 2014

Today, we're having a special edition of Sew fantastic blogs. I asked Meg from Elsie Marley and the creator of Kids Clothes Week to tell us about her blog and about Kids Clothes Week which is going to happen next week! I'm so pleased to have her here. Especially in the english-speaking kids sewing world, Kids Clothes Week is something each and everyone tries to participate in and the projects that pop up every day in the project pool are just amazing. If you haven't taken part so far, make sure to join the fun this year!
Meg started a "sew-along CENTRAL" where you can subscribe to a monthly email that informs you about on-going sew alongs! Besides this her personal blog Elsie Marley is also full of fantastic makes. Here are my favorites:

Montag, 14. Juli 2014

This year I participated in the Spring Sewing Swap over at Kestrel Makes. How fun is it to get to know a new blog, to pack something for that person that you think she'll like and also to receive something beautiful yourself? I was paired with Louise from Thread Carefully, who loves to sew dresses. Head over to her blog to see some seriously impressing and fun makes. She was much faster in blogging what I sent her. Check out the polka dot beauty that headed her way.

And how i loved her parcel. A fun geometric jersey that will surely soon become a fun summer dress (or top or or or - too many possibiliteis), together with jersey needles (perfect timing as I just run out of these) and four (yes, four!) spools of matching thread in a super sweet vintage box! Perfection!
Thanks a lot, Louise, for this great parcel.
So, will you join next year?

Mittwoch, 9. Juli 2014

Today the sew fantastic blog series travels all the way to Portugal where Marta from the blog Do Guincho sews classy and often vintage inspired clothes for her beautiful daughters. They are extremly well done and each detail is perfection. Her pics always "glow", you really feel the portugese sun when you watch them. As far as I know Marta has so far mainly sewn with woven fabrics (though she just posted an amazingly beautiful Cosi swim suit yesterday), so I'm really curious to see what her signature style tee will look like. Here are some of my favorite creations by Marta:

Please introduce yourself (who are you, tell us a little bit about your family,
which country and maybe city do you live in, are you originally from this
country, do you work or are you a stay at home mom, etc.)!

Hi! My name is Marta, I blog at DoGuincho and I am
delighted to be part of Annika’s new series!

I have lived in Lisbon, Portugal, all my life but, a
few years ago, my family and I moved from the city centre to a seaside place called
Guincho just about twenty minutes from Lisbon. I am a freelancer architect and
I’ve two little daughters: Teresa and Ines. I love to windsurf and Guincho
beach is one of the best windy beaches in Europe. Lucky me!

Sonntag, 6. Juli 2014

Do you all remember my secret squirrel outfit from March? This weekend (until tomorrow 12 noon Central European Time) you can vote at Straight Grain and Sew Pony for your favorite secret squirrel outfit from the last year. Please go to these sites and vote for your favorite. I'll be really glad if you choose me. There are some amazing prizes...

Thanks anyways to An and Suz for organizing such a fun series! This really was an amazing year!

Samstag, 5. Juli 2014

So, how is the
weather this weekend at your place in the world? Rainy?
Perfect, I got you covered! Today another bunch of sewing inspiration
is heading your way :) Also check out this post by Megan Nielsen about not writing a book. Perfect reminder to what is really important in our life. Plus, if you know any german, you should check out this post about being a girl.

Tutorials

Over
at Melly Sews the whole month of June was dedicated to free sundress
tutorials and patterns for girls and women. Here, I have my six
favorite ones for you, but make sure to head over there to see the
other 24!

Mittwoch, 2. Juli 2014

Today's interview guest is Nell from Bienvenido Colorido. Most of my german speaking readers will definitely know her, but I guess that most english readers will get to know a fantastic new blog today. Bienvenido Colorido is one of the most amazing sewing blogs that I know. Nell comes originally from Austria, but lives in Spain. She writes in both German and English and sometimes even Spanish. Her sewing and pics are really special. I would recognize a pic of her within hundreds of others! And her sewing for her daughter is just so cool! Plus she doesn't just sew, but she also designs cool patterns, fabric (her wonderful "In the kitchen" fabric is available since June 21st) and has lots of freebies and tutorials on her blog. Told you she is amazing, didn't I? Here are three of my favorite creations by Nell from the last 4 months - I didn't get further back as I already had too many possible pics... You have to check out her blog yourself!

First
things first: Please introduce yourself(who are you, tell us
a little bit about your family, which country and maybe city do you
live in, are you originally from this country, do you work or are you
a stay at home mom, etc.)!

Hey
there, my name is Cornelia, but most people would call me Nellie.
Originally I am from Austria, but for quite some I live (most
of the year) in southern Spain on a big finca in the middle of
nowhere.

You
wanna know what brought me here? Most likely the only thing that can
drag you out of your compfortable central-heated and “tonight let’s
order some pizza” life into a very far away wilderness: the crazy
thing called love. With my degrees in history and journalism I was
very well equiped for being in the campo and so I spent my first
years studying the art of making fire (in a woodburning stove),
repairing the generator (which always broke when I was on my own) and
getting the hang of cooking, bakeing and gardening. It was quite an
exciting time, but still it felt like something was missing... about
nine months later Rosa was born, our beloved daughter.

So
that’s us: Rosa, her grown-up half-brother Alexander, Fred and I.
We share the finca with quite a few animals, at the moment two dogs,
three cats, a bunch of chickens, ducks and peacocks.

We
have about 100 orangetrees, loads of plums, apples, lemons,
tangerines, pommegranates, almonds, figtrees and always a
kitchengarden supplying us with nice organic veggies.

We
try to live a green life as far as it is possible, using solar
energy most of the year, water from our own well...

I
miss my friends and family back home, I miss the city, I miss Vienna,
sometimes. But I guess I would miss this little paradise even more...

Dienstag, 1. Juli 2014

Yey, I sewed a
Teepee and not just a teepee, but the biggest teepee that I can
imagine ;) The pattern is from Burda issue 7/2013 (or online here).
When Susanne first showed her wonderful Fly fabrics, I thought right
away that they'd be perfect for a teepee and when I asked my children
wheather they'd like to have a teepee, they obviously said „Yes“
right away.